Sermon Previews, Newsletter Pieces, Random thoughts about Ministry and Life

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Minister's Annual Report

Brothers and
Sisters, Grace and Peace to You in the Name of Jesus Christ:

another year has
come and gone and for the 7th time since joining the life
and ministry of this congregation I sit down to write my Annual
Report and reflect on the ministry that we share.

I want to begin this
year’s report by saying thank you. Thank You to the Scripture
Readers, Greeters Candlelighters, and coffee preparers who have added
to our worship services over the year. Thank You to the leaders of
our programs for children and youth. Thank You to people who
organized our large events that raised funds and built community.
Thank You to all those people who work in the background, doing
dozens of tasks that make this place run smoothly. Thank You to the
members of our committees. Thank You to the members of Council. Thank
You for your support both of our congregational budget and for your
support to the community through the Local Outreach Fund. The
Stewardship & Finance Committee has tried to come up with a way
to quantify the number of volunteer hours that make this place the
faith community that it is. We have not yet found the equation to do
so, but I am sure that the number of volunteer hours accumulated each
year would be in the 1000’s. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

And on a more
personal note, Thank You as a congregation for all the support that
is offered to me personally and to us as a family. Many of my
colleagues across the church will note that they often feel
unappreciated or unsupported. That has never been true of my time in
this congregation. You are generous in spirit and in action. Thank
You.

Elsewhere in this
report people are talking about what happened in 2016. I will let
them tell the story. The thing that made 2016 different for me was
the sabbatical. I had never taken a sabbatical before and to tell the
truth was unsure what it would feel like to be off for that amount of
time (and really it kind of felt weird). But as the start of the
Sabbatical time approached last Spring I became more and more aware
how much I was feeling the need for a time of rest and refreshment.
And so another Thank You. Thank You for making the time possible, and
Thank You to all who stepped in to provide support and leadership in
my absence.

An annual report has
two functions. One is to look back on what was. The other is to look
ahead to what we hope will be. After all, on of the pieces of
business at the Annual Congregational Meeting is to pass the budget,
the spending plan, for the next year. And a budget is one of the ways
an organization talks about what it wants to accomplish.

What are some of my
hopes for the year? One is to spend less time in the church office.
Periodically my elbow tells me I have been spending too much time on
the computer. Optimally I would like to spend (in a normal week) 5
half days in the office at the most. To help make that happen I am
looking for people to visit in those other hours. So call me and we
will set up a time when I can escape from the computer screen.

Another hope of mine
is related to the fact that I have been here for 6.5 years now. With
time comes the danger of falling into a routine (which sometimes has
the danger of becoming a rut). It is my intent to talk to some
friends who have served a congregation for long term (in one case
coming up on 30 years) abut how they kept the ministry fresh. It is
my hope that we continue to try new things and keep each other
growing as we try to understand what it means to follow Jesus in
Grande Prairie in the 21st century.

A new year beckons,
new challenges await (and hopefully no new floods).